Knowledge Management of Wisdom from Community Forests Conservation’s to Creating Learning Site to Promote Self-reliance in Letor Community, Tak Province

Abstract

The Royal Project Development Centre, Letor, Tak Province aims to develop quality of life of hill tribes who have insufficient income to survive. (Royal Project Foundation, 2022) It applies the sufficiency economy philosophy to community development, encourages people live together with forests, restore forest ecosystems, restore watershed ecosystems, promote agroforestry, raise awareness among people to jointly conserve soil, water and forests, and encourage community participation in developing their quality of life, leading to this research. The objectives were to 1) manage and transfer knowledge on community forest management according to the royal initiative and community wisdom, 2) develop community forest learning sites support food security and community income. Data was collected by surveying natural resources, cultural lifestyles, interviewing knowledgeable informants, relevant government officials, and creating participation in developing the quality of life of people in the community. The results found that Ban Letor community is a Karen hilltribe (Pga K'nyau) in the community who had their own knowledge of community forest management according to their way of life, which can be used to manage and transfer knowledge to develop the community. There is rotational farming and field crops that are grown by themselves, including economic crops, local crops, and crops promoted by the Royal Project. Wisdom is applied during cultivation, based on beliefs related to the conservation and the environment. Community forest management is in line with the royal initiative and the use of wisdom. Community forests are established and legally certified. The community cooperates with officials to maintain the forest and restore natural resources. Community learning sites are developed to provide local learning about resources and seasonal forest collection, plant preservation and propagation, and community learning resource maps are developed to create cooperation and participation in the conservation of forest resources in the area and to develop communities to be self-reliant sustainably.